Small observation and rant

[stevep107]

[quote:35c5fd0d8e]Well no kidding Steve... given my druthers, I'll trot out RJ, Santana, Schmidt and Sheets every night also! [/quote:35c5fd0d8e]

I don't know what the word "druthers" means, but that probably isn't important.

If you are lucky, you might be able to get one of the above guys. I wasn't suggesting getting all of them. :shock:

But, there are plenty of other solid SP* in the $2m-$5m range who are good value.

[quote:35c5fd0d8e]Carry 3 strong *SP and a weaker fourth (lots of nice options this year, Lidle, Morris, Milton, Moyer, etc.) [/quote:35c5fd0d8e]

I agree with this approach.

[cummings2]

After reading the thread I find it weird to say but I agree very much with both sides of the argument. I especially agree with what SWP said right before me.

I believe that every player applies different strategies, some make no sense to me but as long as they bring wins it's all good. Personally I believe that when a players posts his team here and asks for input from the vets he, almost always, gets what they ask for. I do strongly believe that the hard cheapie spot starter strategy is a good, solid and very succesful strategy when used properly.

I am no vet by any means. I've only had 10 teams finish their season. I scowered through those ten teams to see how succesful that strategy has been used against me and I found out that when a hard cheapie spot starter faced my team I ended up with a 4-18 record. If I had only gone .500 against those starters I would've made the playoffs in two additional leagues. -The most used spotters against me were : T. Wakefield, Capuano and R. Ortiz.

Anyway. I have been aware of the strategy, I think it's a good one but I still don't use it. I'd rather allocate that money to have better arms in the pen. When a player uses it against me properly I just tip my hat.

I do believe that the reason why my winning pct. hovers between the .517-.520 and not between the .540-.550 of some of the big boyz IS because of those little extra wins they eke out by exploiting my weaknesses. There is a reason why they're so good and I always welcome matching with them and learning from how they trully "manage" their team against mine as opposed to just let it be in autopilot.

Either way. Hats off to you for your very, very respectable run to the playoffs.

All best of luck!

[Jerlins]

Quite honestly, I don't think I am ready for the vet leagues. I've played a whole 13 leagues of SOM all of which have been with TSN. The only other familiarity I've had concerning SOM was reading advertisements in magazines. Never played the board game either.

I will admit though, that I consider this game much like a chess match, and I do love the challenge. I've played with some of the SOM's best in the individual autoleagues and have matched them win for win, so maybe I just might accept your invite when 2006 comes rolling along.

I can eat humble pie with the best of them.

[J-Pav]

[b:3d4827563c]Jerlins:[/b:3d4827563c]

Here's how I did it once. Set out w/ a "groundball pitcher" theme in the autodraft, which consisted mainly of hard righties. I saw my entire division was set up to hit hard righties and dropped my entire staff, more or less. Invested in the pen and in cheap match up starters (hard lefty, reverse lefty, even lefty, hard righty, two reverse righties, even righty).

Here's how it looked:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=10796

This was a Champs team that basically coasted all season, while spending around $14 million on seven SPs. I "coasted" because so many teams had the exact same line-up weaknesses. It doesn't always happen this way, but sometimes the stars line-up for you. :D

My usual strategy is to use a SP/RP pitcher that is heavily one-sided (hard or reverse) to spot start. I don't use Capuano (who rarely sees more than one six lefty line-up), I use Villone, who spot starts against the Shea teams and is a great hard lefty reliever who gets out a few righties too. Lowry is a perfect example of a reverse lefty.

I don't know what you require as proof, but I do some version of this with every team I play (subject to how my opponents choose to set up).

This is a tour Champs team (so please pardon the shameful record):

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=15961

I guess what I'm saying is that it [i:3d4827563c]can[/i:3d4827563c] be done to you. Having said that, I also agree with you somewhat...I don't see others doing it all that often.

[J-Pav]

P.S.

[b:4ef567aabf]Jerlins:[/b:4ef567aabf]

[b:4ef567aabf]Coffee[/b:4ef567aabf] is one of the most helpful guys on the threads, yet for all his friendly advice, he often seems to rub people the wrong way and ends up getting an earful in return for what (to me) seems like an obviously helpful suggestion.

Whether you love him or hate him, I just want you to know that I CAN'T WAIT for him to bring that weak a** Milton/Halsey/Munro/Ortiz [i:4ef567aabf]Pilgrim[/i:4ef567aabf] cheese to Coors to face me!!

:D

[J-Pav]

Reviewing my team, it looks like oops, I did it again...

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2005/team/team_other.html?user_id=44743

:D

[1crazycanuk]

I wouldn't mind playing in one of the vet's leagues sometime. I'd hate to spend the money to get my ass kicked but it sure would feel good to kick some ass. :)

[Jerlins]

And thats been the point of my argument. I know the strategy works, and i know it works well. Just that not a lot of teams in one league does this to the point you need to alter your team dramatically to insure against it.

[Jerlins]

As far as Coffee goes, I've always enjoyed his his opinions and the way he presents them. Just enough dry humor to make it enjoyable.

[J-Pav]

How to "insure against it" is in the eye of the beholder, too.

Last year, on the boards, [b:7d158dcdd8]Riggo[/b:7d158dcdd8] started a thread called "Can You Be Too Righthanded?" or something like that. He started eight RH hitters in a division that had strong hard righty pitching against him and still won nearly if not more than 100 games. A phenomenal effort.

If I remember correctly, my very first Strat-O league (2002) was won by a guy with 8 or 9 LH hitters in Shea. It left an impression on me.

But I soon grew tired of getting my butt handed to me by the Brad Halsey type guys over the years. There's nothing worse than your ace matching up against a cheap-o hard starter in the playoffs and losing the first game, while his No. 1 starts against your No. 2 in the next game, and so on.

But what absolutely [i:7d158dcdd8]infuriates[/i:7d158dcdd8] me to no end, is checking a box score to see that Jay Witasick struck out Pujols, Rolen and Guerrero in the 9th with two guys on. HAL hates me that much. So why make it easy for him? I now (usually) go 5 or 6 to my stadium strong side (depending on the other stadiums and league idiosyncracies), I stagger my line-ups semi-irrationally just to provoke things, and I buy a few of the Halsey/Witasick guys because if they can face 5 or 6 guys in a row to their strong side, like [b:7d158dcdd8]Coffee[/b:7d158dcdd8] said, you're allowing me to use my resources much more effectively.

And even though HAL hates me, I never stop trying to be his friend. If you give me the chance to use Halsey against 8 lefty bats, I'll take that bet every time. You're right, not a lot of guys go to the trouble of selecting match-up starters. But you still have to worry about those low budget relievers, and everyone has those.